photo: Brooke Weeber
Brooklyn band SUSU, despite recently having been named emusic.com's blah-blah number one download pick for upcoming whatever, were completely unknown to me at the time. I was one of those members of the crowd "waiting to be impressed," as drummer Oliver puts it.1 Now my not knowing a band, as we all know, doesn't mean jack. SUSU have been around for years, kicking around Brooklyn and Manhattan, playing strip shows and mud wrestling contests etc., all by accident, mostly.1 When I heard them start the first song, I was excited. When they started the second, I was nodding enthusiastically to those around me. By the time Day for Night came on, I was more concerned with getting a copy of SUSU's CD than I was anything else.
The call and answer / male and female vocals are such a great tool for any band, adding a dynamic that really can't be done the same any other way. Add to that shredding and often rythmically defiant guitar parts played with a sort-of loving and delicate touch, drums that separate your membranes from their respective internal organs, and each song's mantra delivered concurrently with an encompassing group of lyrics, rather than a transcription or otherwise-on-the-nose browbeating. It really is a fun record to listen to. I find myself smiling and taken to imaginative places of my own, like a good read almost. Strange, I know, but that's what it does for me. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone else who left with a record that night has experienced something completely different. Great progressive records will do that. Here's a track from the WIN EP.
"Part Bloodhound" by SUSU Download mp3 (with permission)
Buy SUSU's Records!
When I read that guitarist Andrea Havis doesn't read or feel particularly fond of blogs, I laughed. I sort of feel the same way. From the emusic interview:
Andrea: Yeah, I don't read blogs. My boyfriend does — he's obsessed. I just can't handle it. Music that I like has always found its way to me.
The first person to comment on this blog will WIN a free WIN EP 12 inch record. Just include or email your mailing address.
B&W photos: Ibru Yildiz
1. interview from emusic.com, read it here
1 comment:
Its nice to see people notice SUSU, as I adore them.
Everett Hall
107 Hillcrest Circle
Honea Path, SC, 29654
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